360 Knoxville Nationals Preview

Year in and year out the best racing of the year in my opinion is the Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals. The 360 cars seem more equal than the 410’s and it gets harder every year to predict the top contenders to win. The event is also becoming a spring board for some teams to gain momentum heading into the following week’s events. The past two years Shane Stewart won his second and third career 360 Knoxville Nationals and that helped launch him to two consecutive top five finishes in the 410 Nationals. Sammy Swindell has been able to ride that wave of momentum as well in recent years. So it’s good racing, but also valuable track time to possibly gain an edge on the competition for the 410 Nationals.

In 2012 we have some new entries of notable interest. Two time defending World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers, Stevie Smith, and Paul McMahan. All three of them will surely be contenders. I also think this is the best chance three time 360 Knoxville track champion Clint Garner has had to make a run for the title. His record hasn’t been impressive at the 360 Nationals in recent years but he has been dominant in our 360 weekly shows here at Knoxville this season.

Some other names I think could be surprises are Brad Loyet, Randy Hannagan, Sam Hafertepe Jr., and I’m sure I’m forgetting a dozen others. Trouble is with drivers constantly moving from one ride to another it’s hard to know if they will be here due to prior commitments. Danny Lasoski is entered, but recently started driving the Zemco car in Pennsylvania. If he is here for the 360 Nationals in the Burch 1M car you can’t count him out. It’s also difficult to pin down contenders with a lot of team and driver combinations coming together for just this one event. And some regular 410 drivers who do not compete in a lot of 360 races, it’s hard to judge how good their equipment is coming into this event when we haven’t seen them race this season in a 360 at Knoxville. All the question marks out there make it for a fun event and it’s hard to say who will come out on top on Saturday night.

At the 410 Nationals you can see a clear cut group of five cars that have a chance to win, and probably two or three that stick out as the favorites. The 360 Nationals there are ten to fifteen cars that have a shot to win and it’s hard to pick anyone as a clear favorite.

Three time winner and two-time defending champion Shane Stewart is in his fourth season driving the Paul Silva 57, but they have had to cut back their schedule this season with lack of sponsorship to keep them on the road full time. Will they lose their edge possibly not racing as much this season? One of the cars Shane has driven part time this year and had success with is the Joe Gaerte owned 3G machine which is being driven by Stevie Smith, so look for that car to be up front for sure. Tim Shaffer finished second a year ago in his first 360 Nationals. Wayne Johnson is probably the most consistent driver over the past decade at the 360 Nationals which includes three wins. After those teams, it’s a crap shoot and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Each year my friends the Bus House Gang compiles our rankings of drivers to form a combined "power rankings". Here is the 2012 version of BHG 360 Nationals Power Rankings:
1. Shane Stewart, 2. Jason Johnson, 3. Wayne Johnson, 4. Brian Brown, 5. Danny Lasoski, 6. Tim Shaffer, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Stevie Smith, 9. Jason Meyers, 10.Clint Garner, 11. Daryn Pittman, 12. Terry McCarl, 13. Johnny Herrera, 14. Davey Heskin, 15. Brad Sweet, 16. Paul McMahan, 17. Brooke Tatnell, 18. Gary Wright, 19. Kaley Gharst, 20. Gregg Bakker, 21. Seth Bergman, 22. Jack Dover, 23. Randy Martin, 24. Tony Bruce Jr.